1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector terminal including a pair of terminal contacts between which a male connector terminal is sandwiched for fixing the male connector terminal there and making electrical contact with the male connector terminal. The invention further relates to a method of fabricating such a connector terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known an electric connector into which a fuse called a flat fuse or a plate fuse including a pair of plate-shaped connector terminals extending in the same direction from opposite ends of a main body to be molten is inserted. The electric connector includes a connector terminal called a fork terminal or a Y-shaped terminal including a pair of terminal contacts between which plate-shaped connector terminals of a fuse as a male connector terminal is inserted and sandwiched.
Such a connector terminal is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2001-326010 and H04(1992)-206175, for instance.
FIG. 17 illustrates a fork terminal disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-326010.
A metal plate 4 includes a main layer 2 composed of Cu alloy, and plated layers formed on opposite surfaces of the main layer 2 and composed of Au or Ag. The plate 4 is punched into a fork terminal 5. The thus fabricated fork terminal 5 includes a pair of contacts 6a and 6b each having contact surfaces 7a and 7b through which the fork terminal 5 makes electric contact with terminals of another electric part (for instance, a male connector terminal). The fork terminal 5 is subject to burring treatment such that the plated layers 2 and 3 are exposed outside.
FIG. 18 illustrates a connector disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. H04(1992)-206175.
The connector 9 is formed by punching a metal plate into a fork shape, and includes a pair of contacts 8a and 8b perpendicularly bent in opposite directions. A male connector terminal is inserted into and sandwiched between the contacts 8a and 8b. 
If a connector includes rough surfaces (namely, just bladed surfaces without being treated) with which a male connector terminal makes contact, the male connector terminal will be damaged when the male connector terminal slides with the rough surface, Further, tiny shaved portions of the male connector terminal will accumulate on the rough surface with the result that contact reliability between the connector and the male connector terminal is deteriorated, and that a frictional force between the connector and the male connector terminal is increased. Accordingly, the male connector terminal cannot be smoothly inserted into and pulled out of the connector. The connector terminals disclosed in the above-mentioned Publications are designed to include plated contact surfaces through which the connector terminals make contact with a male connector terminal, by bending contact portions such that surfaces having been just bladed or punched do not form contact surfaces through which the connector terminals make contact with a male connector terminal, for the purpose of preventing corrosion of the contact surfaces and accordingly enhancing contact reliability. Thus, the connector terminals disclosed in the above-mentioned Publications are able to solve the above-mentioned problem.
However, if contact portions of a pair of the terminal contacts were formed by bending a metal plate along a fold line extending in a direction in which a male connector terminal is inserted into and pulled out of the terminal contacts, similarly to the above-mentioned conventional connector terminals, a space between the terminal contacts could not avoid being long. If the terminal contacts were spaced away from each other by a long space, the terminal contacts could not sandwich a male connector terminal therebetween, resulting in deterioration in reliability. Furthermore, a connector terminal cannot be down-sized because of a long space between a pair of the terminal contacts.